HIA Outreach: Staffers choose to donate to one of our own

Each year, HIA employees take a consensus and choose three National charities to support. Individuals can volunteer a portion of their wages to one of the three organizations. HIA Corporate will match each individual donation up to five dollars.

In 2015, HIA employees contributed a combined total of over $8,000.00 to The Wounded Warrior Project, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, and the Alzheimers Association. With Corporate matches, donations totaled over $14,000.00.

This year, the staff were presented with an opportunity to do something they’ve never done before…to donate wages to an organization that directly benefits a colleague in need:

Amanda Register is a Coding Specialist at HIA. She is a 40-year-old mother of three who has been living with Multiple Sclerosis since she was diagnosed in her early twenties. Amanda had been asymptomatic until five years ago. She now has weakness in her right leg which requires her to use a cane to walk short distances, and a wheelchair for longer distances. She suffers from extreme fatigue, vision disturbances, bladder problems, and loss of muscle strength. Amanda has the opportunity to receive a life-changing procedure involving a transplant using her own stem cells. This procedure has the potential to drastically slow down the progression of her MS.

Unfortunately, the stem cell transplant is very expensive. Even with insurance, the treatment could cost more than $50,000 plus added travel expenses and post-treatment medications. Amanda will also be out of work for several months and her husband, Ronald, may have to miss work while he cares for her during her treatment.

Amanda’s best friend at HIA, Shannon Montano, informed Angie LaRochelle, HIA’s Outreach Coordinator, that Amanda’s friends and family wanted to start a fundraising campaign in Amanda’s honor to help with the financial burden of Amanda’s uninsured expenses; She explained how the campaign would be established with HelpHOPELive, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising guidance to patients and their families for more than 30 years. Angie shared the news of Amanda’s fundraiser with HIA’s CEO, Betsy Bailey. Betsy insisted that HelpHOPELive be added as a 4th choice of charities for HIA to support in 2016.

Of course, the staff have responded enthusiastically in support of Amanda. First Quarter donations to HelpHopeLive are already just shy of $4,000.00!

All donations are tax deductible, are held by HelpHOPELive in the Great Lakes Stem Cell Transplant Fund, and are administered by HelpHOPELive for transplant-related expenses only. To learn more about HelpHopeLive and/or to contribute a donation please visit https://helphopelive.org/campaign/10219 or call 800.642.8399.

A breakdown of all the donation allocations for 2015 and Q1of 2016 is listed below: